With Kukulkan and Jaguar stepping in, the urgent crisis at Thermopylae should be resolved for now.
Leaning against a tree trunk, Samael watched the two old friends, whom he had only reunited with for less than two hours, disappear from sight once more. Melancholy aside, the tension that had been wound tight in him the entire journey finally eased a little.
So now, at last, I can catch my breath and make arrangements properly.
Judging from that clash on the mountain path, the Persian army probably has more than just those two Indian monsters. If things go badly, all kinds of bizarre gods and demons worshipped in Israel, among the Zoroastrians, or in Babylon might show up too.
To be safe, if he was going to send commanders, the more the better. Let's see who else fits.
The Ancient Serpent stretched, sat upright, and looked down at the chaotic lines and symbols drawn across the ground. Rolling a pebble between his fingers, he frowned and thought, searching for another playable card to reinforce his plan.
Scáthach, Fenrir, and the three Hildr sisters were in Athens, and he had no clear idea what the situation was there. Cleaning up the Areopagus required manpower, so he could not pull them away.
More importantly, by prior arrangement, Ozymandias and Attila would probably be arriving in Athens soon enough. On top of that, he still had that shady fox by his side whose loyalties remained unclear.
If he moved Scáthach and Fenrir away, then in his current half-dead state, he would not be able to keep the swarm of opportunistic freaks and monsters around him in check.
Things were different now. Sigurd and the Nordic fleet also had to remain in the nearby seas to help him gather Greek forces, so they could not be moved either.
As for the Assassin Order in the Middle East, they were even less dependable for this. The old man had plans of his own, and who knew when he would actually show up.
Besides, they already had an agreement beforehand. The Order's power was not to be committed to the war against Persia. It would be unreasonable to force the issue.
After thinking it over from every angle, Samael suddenly realized that the only places he could draw manpower from were Rome and the Celtic lands.
Yet after making contact, the Ancient Serpent's face darkened, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
Over in Rome, Nero had run off with Brynhildr, and Penthesilea was chasing them down. The Amazons stabilizing the situation in the City of Seven Hills could not be pulled away at all.
As for Britain, Boudica had already headed to the waters near the British Isles to investigate clues related to the six great Fairy Clans, so she could not be contacted. Skadi had gone missing again, and across the entire Celtic tribe, only Boudica's youngest daughter was left guarding the home front.
What kind of teammates are these? Big sis Quetzalcoatl, come back… I miss you already…
The Ancient Serpent gazed north with tears in his eyes, silently lodging a grief-stricken accusation.
Then, after running through his deductions and records, Samael looked over the full map of Greece again, and his mood darkened all over.
India: Karna, blessed by Brahma; Rama, the reincarnation of Vishnu; Jinako, possessed by the elephant god.
China and Japan: Tamamo-no-Mae, the unparalleled demon consort who brought ruin to the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, and who was also said to be an incarnation of Amaterasu.
South America: Kukulkan and Jaguar of Tezcatlipoca.
Persia: two emperors, plus a whole crowd of Persian heroes, and quite possibly gods of Zoroastrianism and Israel mixed in too.
Egypt: Pharaoh Ramesses II, Pharaoh Nitocris, and Cleopatra.
Rome: Nero, the Rose Emperor who obtained the true Machine God body, and Julius Caesar currently at Thermopylae.
Macedon: Alexander the Great, the Conqueror King.
The Celts and Ireland: Scáthach, Queen of the Land of Shadows.
The Hun Empire: King Attila.
The Middle East: the Islamic Assassin Order and King Hassan, the Grand Assassin.
The Nordics: Skadi, goddess of winter; Jörmungandr, the World Serpent; Fenrir, the giant wolf; four Valkyries; the Warrior King; the Raven King; the Bloodaxe King; the Dragon Slayer…
Good grief. So basically every notable region from the entire Age of Gods had sent representatives to Greece to join the chaos?
What the hell is this lineup? With a roster like this, they could crush Greece eight times over!
I'm an idiot. A complete idiot. I knew perfectly well that I'm basically a walking disaster magnet, and I still came to Greece to join the fun.
I worked my ass off in Rome dealing with a three-way coalition, thinking I had stabilized the rear and would finally get to fight a nice, comfortable battle with the wind at my back. Was there really any need to blow this up into something this ridiculous? This is your idea of easy mode?!
"Damn you all!"
The more Samael thought about it in the middle of the forest, the dizzier he got, until his temples throbbed and a surge of resentment shot straight from his gut to the top of his head. He raised a middle finger toward the innocent night sky and started cursing outright.
Meanwhile, by the roadside, Helen and Gorgo, who had been sitting around the campfire staring distractedly northward, were startled by a flock of birds suddenly taking flight. Their eyes met, and then both turned toward the forest, their expressions dark and unreadable.
This assassin bodyguard was far more mysterious than they had imagined.
And as for those two strangely dressed women from before, even the slightest leak of the ether surging around them had been enough to make Helen feel like she was suffocating.
As for their claim that they, like Ezio, belonged to the Brotherhood, had crossed the sea on a journey, and just happened to run into him on the road… that was the kind of story best heard and politely ignored.
There was no need to take it seriously, and no need to expose the lie. Some things were better understood without being said aloud.
Aside from those two who had come and gone in a rush, there was one more person in the group who stirred a wary instinct in Helen and Gorgo, the kind that came from a woman's intuition.
"Wine… guh… mmm… good wine! Keep drinking!"
With hiccups slipping out in a strange little cadence, Tamamo lay curled beside the fire, cheeks flushed red, hugging a wine jar and gnawing on it in her sleep with a silly grin.
"Mmm, lamb chops! So good! So good!"
To the sound of painfully sharp crunching, Helen and Gorgo stared in eerie silence as they watched this "delicate" girl, supposedly rescued from a bandit den, bite straight through hard pottery shards and chew them down like snacks.
"Hehe… ahaha, stop, that tickles. You can't touch me there, that's too naughty, da~rling♡. That's something you only get to do after marriage, so please start by dating me first…"
Tamamo's face grew redder and redder. Hugging the wine jar and rubbing against it like a pampered pet, she murmured all sorts of strange nonsense. Whatever she was dreaming about, she looked like a bashful young maiden lost in romance. Beside her, Gorgo and Helen could only cover their foreheads and back away in defeat.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"
At that very moment, Samael, who had just settled his thoughts and was busy moving through the forest, suddenly felt his nose itch and sneezed several times in a row.
The Ancient Serpent paused, frowned, and looked north with a dark expression.
Why did he keep getting this bad feeling? Could something have happened at Thermopylae?
...
Meanwhile, at Thermopylae.
Hearing the flap of wings, Leonidas rose with his spear in hand, caught the Ironfeather Eagle atop the battlements, removed the bamboo tube from its ankle, and skillfully tossed it to the red-haired boy beside him.
"Here, see what Xerxes is saying this time."
"Another surrender demand. Same as before, just worded a little more harshly."
Alexander answered casually, looking down from above at the vast Persian camp spread out below, the fire in his eyes burning brighter.
"From the looks of it, the Persians have gathered close to two hundred thousand troops by now. How long have we held them up?"
"Since the first surrender demand? About five days…"
"By my estimate, we've got at most two more good days."
"There's still no word from Caesar's side. We need to hold out a little longer. Should we soften the tone of the reply?"
"It's useless. A delaying tactic only works once. Seven days is probably the limit of their patience. It's also the time they need to finish consolidating their troops and push forward on all fronts. Once the Persian reinforcements arrive, the assault will begin. There's no point arguing with words. In the end, this will be settled on the battlefield with steel."
Leonidas could not help but feel a headache coming on.
After so many battles, he had little reason to doubt Alexander's judgment. But the time left to them was still far too short.
Hopefully… it was not already too late.
Just as Leonidas gazed out toward the sea, weighed down with worry, a low, desolate horn suddenly sounded, and the faces of the defenders at Thermopylae changed at once.
The Persians had moved early.